Stone said that as an elementary school student in 1960, he broke into politics to further John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign: "I remember going through the cafeteria line and telling every kid that Nixon was in favor of school on Saturdays ... It was my first political trick."[36]

When he was a junior and vice president of student government at his high school in northern Westchester County, New York, he manipulated the ouster of the president and succeeded him. Stone recalled how he ran for election as president for his senior year:

I built alliances and put all my serious challengers on my ticket. Then I recruited the most unpopular guy in the school to run against me. You think that's mean? No, it's smart.[37]

Career

1970s: Nixon campaign, Watergate and Reagan 1976

Stone's political career began in earnest on the 1972 Nixon campaign, with activities such as contributing money to a possible rival of Nixon in the name of the Young Socialist Alliance – then slipping the receipt to the Manchester Union-Leader. He also hired a spy in the Hubert Humphrey campaign who became Humphrey's driver. According to Stone, during the day he was officially a scheduler in the Nixon campaign, but "By night, I'm trafficking in the black arts. Nixon's people were obsessed with intelligence."[3] Stone maintains he never did anything illegal during Watergate.[39] The Richard Nixon Foundation later clarified that Stone had been a 20-year-old junior scheduler on the campaign, and that to characterize Stone as one of Nixon's aides or advisers was a "gross misstatement".[40]

In 1976, he worked in Ronald Reagan's campaign for President. In 1977, at age 24, Stone won the presidency of the Young Republicans in a campaign managed by his friend Paul Manafort; they had compiled a dossier for each of the 800 delegates that gathered, which they called "whip books".[43]

Stone, the "keeper of the Nixon flame",[44] was an adviser to the former President in his post-presidential years, serving as "Nixon's man in Washington".[45] Stone was a protégé of former Connecticut Governor John Davis Lodge, who introduced the young Stone to then former Vice President Nixon in 1967.[46] After Stone was indicted in 2019, the Nixon Foundation released a statement distancing Stone's ties to Nixon.[47][48][49]John Sears recruited Stone to work in Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign, coordinating the Northeast. Stone said that Roy Cohn helped him arrange for John B. Anderson to get the nomination of the Liberal Party of New York, a move that would help split the opposition to Reagan in the state. Stone said Cohn gave him a suitcase that Stone avoided opening and that, as instructed by Cohn, he dropped off at the office of a lawyer influential in Liberal Party circles. Reagan carried the state with 46% of the vote. Speaking after the statute of limitations for bribery had expired, Stone later said, "I paid his law firm. Legal fees. I don't know what he did for the money, but whatever it was, the Liberal party reached its right conclusion out of a matter of principle."[3]

In 1980, after their key roles in the Reagan campaign, Stone and Manafort decided to go into business together, with partner Charlie Black, creating a political consulting and lobbying firm to cash in on their relationships within the new administration. Black, Manafort & Stone (BMS), became one of Washington D.C.'s first mega-lobbying firms[50][51] and was described as instrumental to the success of Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign. Republican political strategist Lee Atwater joined the firm in 1985, after serving in the #2 position on Reagan-Bush 1984.

In 1987–88, Stone served as senior adviser to Jack Kemp's presidential campaign, which was managed by consulting partner Charlie Black.[55] In that same election, his other partners worked for George H. W. Bush (Lee Atwater as campaign manager, and Paul Manafort as director of operations in the fall campaign).[56]

In April 1992, Time alleged that Stone was involved with the controversial Willie Horton advertisements to aid George H. W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign, which were targeted against Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis.[57] Stone has said that he urged Lee Atwater not to include Horton in the ad.[13] Stone denied making or distributing the advertisement, and said it was Atwater's doing.[13]

In the 1990s, Stone and Manafort sold their business. Although their careers went in different directions, their relationship remained close.[citation needed]

Stone married his first wife Anne Elizabeth Wesche in 1974. Using the name Ann E.W. Stone, she founded the group Republicans for Choice in 1989. They divorced in 1990.[58]

1990s: early work with Donald Trump, Dole 1996

In 1995, Stone was the president of RepublicanSenatorArlen Specter's campaign for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination.[59] Specter withdrew early in the campaign season with less than 2% support.

Stone resigned from a post as a consultant to the 1996 presidential campaign for Senator Bob Dole after The National Enquirer reported that Stone had placed ads and pictures in racy swingers' publications and a website, seeking sexual partners for himself and Nydia Bertran Stone, his second wife, married in Las Vegas in 1992. Stone initially denied the report.[36][37] On the Good Morning America program he falsely stated, "An exhaustive investigation now indicates that a domestic employee, who I discharged for substance abuse on the second time that we learned that he had a drug problem, is the perpetrator who had access to my home, access to my computer, access to my password, access to my postage meter, access to my post-office box key."[36] In a 2008 interview with The New Yorker Stone admitted that the ads were authentic.[13]

2000s: Florida recount, Killian memos, conflict with Eliot Spitzer

In 2000, Stone served as campaign manager of Donald Trump's aborted campaign for President in the Reform Party primary.[39] Investigative journalist Wayne Barrett accused Stone of persuading Trump to publicly consider a run for the Reform nomination to sideline Pat Buchanan and sabotage the Reform Party in an attempt to lower their vote total to benefit George W. Bush.[61]

In 2002, Stone was associated with the campaign of businessman Thomas Golisano for governor of New York State.[60]

During the 2004 presidential campaign, Democrat Al Sharpton responded to accusations that Stone was working on his campaign, stating, "I've been talking to Roger Stone for a long time. That doesn't mean that he's calling the shots for me. Don't forget that Bill Clinton was doing more than talking to Dick Morris."[62] Critics suggested that Stone was only working with Sharpton as a way to undermine the Democratic Party's chances of winning the election. Sharpton denies that Stone had any influence over his campaign.[63]

In that election a blogger accused Stone of responsibility for the Kerry–Specter campaign materials which were circulated in Pennsylvania.[64] Such signs were considered controversial because they were seen as an effort to get Democrats who supported Kerry to vote for then Republican Senator Arlen Specter in heavily Democratic Philadelphia.

In 2007, Stone, a top adviser at the time to Joseph Bruno (the Majority Leader of the New York State Senate), was forced to resign by Bruno after allegations that Stone had threatened Bernard Spitzer, the then-83-year-old father of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer.[10][66] On August 6, 2007, an expletive-laced message was left on the elder Spitzer's answering machine threatening to prosecute the elderly man if he did not implicate his son in wrongdoing. Bernard Spitzer hired a private detective agency that traced the call to the phone of Roger Stone's wife. Roger Stone denied leaving the message, despite the fact that his voice was recognized, claiming he was at a movie that was later shown not to have been screened that night. Stone was accused on an episode of Hardball with Chris Matthews on August 22, 2007 of being the voice on an expletive-laden voicemail threatening Bernard Spitzer, father of Eliot, with subpoenas.[67][68]Donald Trump is quoted as saying of the incident, "They caught Roger red-handed, lying. What he did was ridiculous and stupid."[69]

Stone consistently denied the reports. Thereafter, however, he resigned from his position as a consultant to the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee at Bruno's request.[66]

In February 2010, Stone became campaign manager for Kristin Davis, a madam linked with the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, in her bid for the Libertarian Party nomination for governor of New York in the 2010 election. Stone said that the campaign "is not a hoax, a prank or a publicity stunt. I want to get her a half-million votes."[72] However, he later was spotted at a campaign rally for Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino,[73] of whom Stone has spoken favorably.[74] Stone admittedly had been providing support and advice to both campaigns on the grounds that the two campaigns had different goals: Davis was seeking to gain permanent ballot access for her party, and Paladino was in the race to win (and was Stone's preferred candidate). As such, Stone did not believe he had a conflict of interest in supporting both candidates.[75] While working for the Davis campaign, Warren Redlich, the Libertarian nominee for Governor, alleged that Stone collaborated with a group entitled "People for a Safer New York" to send a flyer labeling Redlich a "sexual predator" and "sick, twisted pervert" based on a blog post Redlich had made in 2008.[76] Redlich later sued Stone in a New York court for defamation over the flyers, and sought $20,000,000 in damages. However, the jury in the case returned a verdict in favor of Stone in December 2017, finding that Redlich failed to prove Stone was involved with the flyers.[77]

Stone volunteered as an unpaid advisor to comedian Steve Berke ("a libertarian member of his so-called After Party") in his 2011 campaign for mayor of Miami Beach, Florida in 2012.[78] (Berke lost the race to incumbent mayor Matti Herrera Bower.[79])

In February 2012, Stone said that he had changed his party affiliation from the Republican Party to the Libertarian Party. Stone predicted a "Libertarian moment" in 2016 and the end of the Republican party.[80]

In June 2012, Stone said that he was running a super PAC in support of former New Mexico governor and Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, whom he had met at a Reason magazine Christmas party two years earlier.[81] Stone told the Huffington Post that Johnson had a real role to play, although "I have no allusions [sic] of him winning."[81]

Stone served as an advisor to the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump.[83] Stone left the campaign on August 8, 2015 amid controversy, with Stone claiming he quit and Trump claiming that Stone was fired.[84] Despite this, Stone still supported Trump.[85][86] A few days later, Stone wrote an op-ed called "The man who just resigned from Donald Trump's campaign explains how Trump can still win" for Business Insider.[87]

Despite calling Stone a "stone-cold loser" in a 2008 interview[39] and accusing him of seeking too much publicity in a statement shortly after Stone left the campaign,[84] Donald Trump praised him during an appearance in December 2015 on Alex Jones' radio show that was orchestrated by Stone. "Roger's a good guy," Trump said. "He's been so loyal and so wonderful."[88] Stone remained an informal advisor to and media surrogate for Trump throughout the campaign.[89][90]

During the course of the 2016 campaign, Stone was banned from appearing on CNN and MSNBC after making a series of offensive Twitter posts disparaging television personalities.[91] Stone specifically referred to a CNN commentator as an "entitled diva bitch" and imagined her "killing herself", and called another CNN personality a "stupid negro" and a "fat negro".[92]Erik Wemple, media writer for The Washington Post, described Stone's tweets as "nasty" and "bigoted".[92] In February 2016, CNN said that it would no longer invite Stone to appear on its network, and MSNBC followed suit, confirming in April 2016 that Stone had also been banned from that network.[93] In a June 2016 appearance on On Point, Stone told Tom Ashbrook: "I would have to admit that calling Roland Martin a 'fat negro' was a two-martini tweet, and I regret that. As for my criticism of Ana Navarro not being qualified ... I don't understand why she's there, given her lack of qualifications."[91]

In March 2016, an article in the tabloid magazine National Enquirer stated that Ted Cruz, Trump's Republican primary rival, had extramarital affairs with five women. The article quoted Stone as saying, "These stories have been swirling about Cruz for some time. I believe where there is smoke there is fire."[94] Cruz denied the allegations (calling it "garbage" and a "tabloid smear") and accused the Trump campaign, and Stone specifically, of planting the story as part of an orchestrated smear campaign against him.[94] Cruz stated, "It is a story that quoted one source on the record, Roger Stone, Donald Trump's chief political adviser. And I would note that Mr. Stone is a man who has 50 years of dirty tricks behind him. He's a man for whom a term was coined for copulating with a rodent."[94][95] In April 2016, Cruz again criticized Stone, saying on Sean Hannity's radio show of Stone: "He is pulling the strings on Donald Trump. He planned the Trump campaign, and he is Trump's henchman and dirty trickster. And this pattern, Donald keeps associating himself with people who encourage violence."[96] Stone responded by comparing Cruz to Richard Nixon and accusing him of being a liar.[97]

In April 2016, Stone formed a pro-Trump activist group, Stop the Steal, and threatened "Days of Rage" if Republican party leaders tried to deny the nomination to Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.[98][99] The Washington Post reported that Stone "is organizing [Trump] supporters as a force of intimidation", noting that Stone "has ... threatened to publicly disclose the hotel room numbers of delegates who work against Trump".[99]Republican National Committee ChairmanReince Priebus said that Stone's threat to publicize the hotel room numbers of delegates was "just totally over the line".[100]

In 2017, Stone was the subject of a Netflix documentary film, titled Get Me Roger Stone, which focuses on his past and on his role in the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump.[27] Stone first suggested Trump run for President in early 1998 while Stone was Trump's casino business lobbyist in Washington.[26]

In early 2018, ahead of an appearance at the annual Republican Dorchester Conference in Salem, Oregon, Stone sought out the Proud Boys, a right-wing group known for street brawling, to act as his "security" for the event; photos posted online showed Stone drinking with several Proud Boys.[104]

Alleged relations with Wikileaks and Russian hackers before the 2016 United States elections

During the 2016 campaign, Stone was accused by Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta of having prior knowledge of the publishing by WikiLeaks of Podesta's private emails obtained by a hacker.[105] Stone tweeted before the leak, "It will soon [sic] the Podesta's time in the barrel". Five days before the leak, Stone tweeted, "Wednesday Hillary Clinton is done. #Wikileaks."[106] Stone has denied having any advance knowledge of the Podesta email hack or any connection to Russian intelligence, stating that his earlier tweet was referring to reports of the Podesta Group's own ties to Russia.[107][108] In his opening statement before the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on September 26, 2017, Stone reiterated this claim: "Note that my tweet of August 21, 2016, makes no mention, whatsoever, of Mr. Podesta's email, but does accurately predict that the Podesta brothers' business activities in Russia ... would come under public scrutiny."[109]

Stone has repeatedly acknowledged that he had established a back-channel with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to obtain information on Hillary Clinton[110][105] and has pointed to this intermediary as the source for his advance knowledge about the release of Podesta's e-mails by WikiLeaks.[111] Stone ultimately named Randy Credico, who had interviewed both Assange and Stone for a radio show, as his intermediary with Assange.[112] A January 2019 indictment claimed Stone communicated with additional contacts knowledgeable about WikiLeaks plans.[113][114]

In February 2017, The New York Times reported that as part of its ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign, the FBI was looking into any contacts Stone may have had with Russian operatives.[115] The following month, The Washington Times reported that Stone had direct-messaged alleged DNC hacker Guccifer 2.0 on Twitter. Stone acknowledged contacts with the mysterious persona and made public excerpts of the messages. Stone said the messages were just innocent praise of the hacking.[116] U.S. intelligence agencies believe Guccifer 2.0 to be a persona created by Russian intelligence to obscure its role in the DNC hack.[117] The Guccifer 2.0 persona was ultimately linked with an IP address associated with the Russian intelligence agency, GRU, in Moscow when a user with a Moscow IP address logged into one of the Guccifer social media accounts without using a VPN.[118]

In March 2017, the Senate Intelligence Committee asked Stone to preserve all documents related to any Russian contacts.[119] The Committee Vice Chair, Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), called on Stone to testify before the committee, saying he "hit the trifecta" of shady dealings with Russia. Stone denied any wrongdoing in an interview on Real Time with Bill Maher on March 31, 2017, and said he was willing to testify before the committee.[106]

On October 28, 2017, following a news report by CNN that indictments would be announced within a few days, Stone's Twitter account was suspended by Twitter for what it called "targeted abuse" of various CNN personnel in a series of derogatory, threatening and obscenity-filled tweets.[121]

On March 13, 2018, two sources close to Stone, former Trump aide Sam Nunberg and a person speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged to The Washington Post that Stone had established contact with WikiLeaks owner Julian Assange and that the two had a telephone conversation discussing emails related to the Clinton campaign which had been leaked to WikiLeaks.[28] According to Nunberg, who claimed he spoke to the paper after being asked to do so by Special Counsel Robert Mueller,[28] Stone joked to him that he had taken a trip to London to personally meet with Assange, but declined to do so, had only wanted to have telephone conversations to remain undetected and did not have advance notice of the leaked emails.[28] The other source, who spoke on anonymity, stated that the conversation occurred before it was publicly known that hackers had obtained the emails of Podesta and of the Democratic National Committee, documents that WikiLeaks released in July and October 2016.[28] Stone afterwards denied that he had contacted Assange or had known in advance about the leaked emails.[122]

On July 3, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle dismissed a lawsuit brought by political activist group Protect Democracy, alleging that Donald Trump's campaign and Stone conspired with Russia and WikiLeaks to publish hacked Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 presidential election race. The judge found that the suit was brought in the wrong jurisdiction.[125][126] The next week, Stone was identified by two government officials as the anonymous person mentioned in the indictment released by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that charged twelveRussian military intelligence officials with conspiring to interfere in the 2016 elections, as somebody the Russian hackers operating the online persona Guccifer 2.0 communicated with, and who the indictment alleged was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign.[127]

Roger Stone indictment for one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering

On January 25, 2019, in a pre-dawn raid by 29 FBI agents acting on both an arrest warrant and a search warrant[128] at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida home, Stone was arrested on seven criminal charges of an indictment in the Mueller investigation: one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering.[129][130][131] The same day, a federal magistrate judge released Stone on a USD$250,000 signature bond and declared that he was not a flight risk.[132][133] Stone said he would fight the charges, which he called politically motivated, and would refuse to “bear false witness" against Trump.[134] He called Robert Mueller a "rogue prosecutor".[135] In the charging document, prosecutors alleged that after the first WikiLeaks release of hacked DNC emails in July 2016, a senior Trump campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and determine what other damaging information WikiLeaks had regarding the Clinton campaign. Stone thereafter told the Trump campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by WikiLeaks, the indictment alleged. The indictment also alleged that Stone had discussed WikiLeaks releases with multiple senior Trump campaign officials.[136][137]

On February 18, 2019, Stone posted on Instagram a photo of the federal judge overseeing his case, Amy Berman Jackson, with what resembled rifle scope crosshairs next to her head.[138] Later that day, Stone filed an apology with the court. Jackson ordered Stone to return to court on February 21 to discuss bail conditions and a gag order that had previously been set.[139] At the hearing, Jackson imposed a full gag order on Stone, citing her belief that Stone would "pose a danger" to others without the order.[140]

Books and other writings

Since 2010, Stone has been an occasional contributor to the conservative website The Daily Caller, serving as a "male fashion editor".[141][142] Stone also writes for his own fashion blog, Stone on Style.[142]

Nixon's Secrets: The Rise, Fall and Untold Truth about the President, Watergate, and the Pardon (Skyhorse Publishing, 2014): Stone discusses Richard Nixon and his career. About two-thirds of the book "is a conventional biography that is by no means a whitewash of Nixon. Stone writes that the President took campaign money from the mob, had a long-running affair with a Hong Kong woman who may have been a Chinese spy, and even once unwittingly smuggled three pounds of marijuana into the United States when carrying the suitcase of jazz great Louis Armstrong." The remaining one-third of the book is an unconventional account of the Watergate scandal.[144] Stone portrays Nixon as a "confused victim" and claims that John Dean orchestrated the break-in (which he depicts as ordinary politics of the time[148]) to cover up involvement in a prostitution ring. This account is rejected by experts, such as Watergate researchers Anthony Summers and Max Holland. Holland said of Stone: "He's out of his ever-lovin' mind."[144] Dean said in 2014 that Stone's book and his defense of Nixon are "typical of the alternative universe out there" and "pure bullshit".[149]

The Clintons' War on Women (with Robert Morrow of Austin, Texas) (Skyhorse Publishing, 2015): This book, according to Politico, is a "sensational" work that contains "explosive, but highly dubious, revelations about both Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton", with a focus on Bill Clinton sexual misconduct allegations, and a claim that Webster Hubbell is the biological father of Chelsea Clinton. This book was promoted by Trump, who posted a Twitter message containing the book's Amazon.com page.[150]David Corn, writing in Mother Jones, writes that the book is "apparently designed to smear the Clintons – by depicting Bill as a serial rapist, Hillary as an enabler, and both members of the power couple as a diabolical duo bent on destroying anyone who stands in their way" and said that the book was part of a wider "extreme anti-Clinton project" by Stone.[143]

Jeb! and the Bush Crime Family (with Saint John Hunt) (Skyhorse Publishing, 2016): The book focuses on Jeb Bush and the Bush family.[145]

Stone's Rules: How to Win at Politics, Business, and Style (Skyhorse Publishing, 2018): The book is Stone's "operating manual" on a variety of topics and areas of life from success in business and politics to Stone's personal style of men's clothing to his recipe for Sunday gravy. Some of these rules are seen in the documentary Get Me Roger Stone.[152]

The Myth of Russian Collusion: The Inside Story of How Donald Trump REALLY Won (Skyhorse Publishing, 2019)

Personal style and habits

Stone's personal style has been described as flamboyant.[153][154] In a 2007 Weekly Standard profile written by Matt Labash, Stone was described as a "lord of mischief" and the "boastful black prince of Republican sleaze."[3][155] Labash wrote that Stone "often sets his pronouncements off with the utterance 'Stone's Rules,' signifying to listeners that one of his shot-glass commandments is coming down, a pithy dictate uttered with the unbending certitude one usually associates with the Book of Deuteronomy." Examples of Stone's Rules include "Politics with me isn't theater. It's performance art, sometimes for its own sake."[3]

Stone does not wear socks – a fact that Nancy Reagan brought to her husband's attention during his 1980 presidential campaign.[156] Labash described him as "a dandy by disposition who boasts of having not bought off-the-rack since he was 17," who has "taught reporters how to achieve perfect double-dimples underneath their tie knots."[155] Washington journalist Victor Gold has noted Stone's reputation as one of the "smartest dressers" in Washington.[157] Stone's longtime tailor is Alan Flusser. Stone dislikes single-vent jackets (describing them as the sign of a "heathen"); says he owns 100 silver-colored neckties; and has 100 suits in storage.[3] Fashion stories have been written about him in GQ and Penthouse.[3] Stone has written of his dislike for jeans and ascots and has praised seersuckerthree-piece suits, as well as Madras jackets in the summertime and velvet blazers in the winter.[142][146]

In 1999, Stone credited his facial appearance to "decades of following a regimen of Chinese herbs, breathing therapies, tai chi and acupuncture."[37] Stone wears a diamond pinkie ring in the shape of a horseshoe and in 2007 he had Richard Nixon's face tattooed on his back.[3] He has said: "I like English tailoring, I like Italian shoes. I like French wine. I like vodka martinis with an olive, please. I like to keep physically fit."[158] Stone's office in Florida has been described as a "Hall of Nixonia" with framed pictures, posters, and letters associated with Nixon.[3]

^Taylor, Stuart, and Binder, David, Washington Talk: Briefing; Sockless Strategist, The New York Times (August 11, 1988) ("'I told him, "I'm not wearing socks until the Soviets are out of Afghanistan,"' Mr. Stone recalled. 'I had to say something, and that answer seemed acceptable to Governor Reagan.'").

^Gold, Victor, "Hail to the tie", San Antonio Express-News, February 17, 1994/.